Walpole Grammar School Ealing

[Ferdinando Addison]

Theten Prime Ministers discussed below have therefore not been chosen on the basis of any of evaluation of their importance or their achievements. The sense of history possessed by our guides, however, is perhaps highlighted by the fact that only two chose to write about a Prime Minister who served the nation after 1900.

The Prime Ministers are not discussed in any principled order. However, it is probably appropriate to begin with Robert Walpole, the very first PM, and to finish with Sir Winston Churchill, arguably the most renowned.

In 1737, when offered 10 Downing Street by King George II, he turned it down as a personal residence, but accepted it on behalf of future First Lords of the Treasury (the post usually held by the Prime Minister). He employed architect William Kent to rebuild 10 Downing Street, merging it with a far larger mansion facing Horse Guards Parade, and making it into the 100 plus room house and office we know today.

He also had a family home at 5 Arlington Street where he died in 1745 (see the blue plaque illustration). His fortune was largely spent on rebuilding Houghton Hall in Norfolk. He also spent time at 32 St. James Square, and at his favourite London residence, Orford House (now part of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea), which had extensive gardens overlooking the Thames. After his resignation from office in 1742, he took the title Earl of Orford.

Why did he do this? Well, he was an early free marketeer. By granting more territory he hoped America would expand and thrive and so provide a growing market for British goods. But his generosity brought down his short-lived administration.

He moved to Chesham Place in 1841 after his second marriage. His wife said that behind his front door he became a relaxed family man, did not work beyond dinner and spent evenings chatting and laughing with his family.

He was not among the favourites to succeed the Duke of Portland as PM in 1809. However, fortune favoured his cause when the two heavyweight contenders, George Canning and Viscount Castlereagh, achieved public ignominy by fighting a duel on Putney Heath in an attempt to settle a quarrel.

The fact of his assassination is now a regular question in pub quizzes. It is a shame other parts of his legacy, such as his efforts to combat the illegal slave trade and his adroit handling of the Regency Crisis, are less well known.

He is said to have preferred the role of Foreign Secretary even if, at times, the meetings were tedious. He is said to have jabbed himself with a paper knife under the table to remain awake having to listen to ambassadors and foreign dignitaries.

In some ways his story is typical of Labour leaders: grammar school scholarship boy excels and goes to Oxbridge before winning a (relatively) local seat and progressing through the ranks. He also retained a sort of common touch with his Gannex raincoats, perpetual pipe and low key holidays on the Scilly Isles. He was perhaps a little like Churchill, keen to control his own image rather than let others do it, even sending himself up in an episode of Morecambe and Wise.

These grand 1722 houses now sell for between four and six million pounds. It may have been an inauspicious address for Wilson as Lord North was Prime minister when Britain lost north America to the rebels.

Despite being Prime Minister three times (and being the first person to do so) Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, spent less than four years as Prime Minister. While he may have been forgotten by all but political historians, he is commemorated by a rather fine block of Victorian social housing in Kings Cross.

William Pitt the Elder, or Lord Chatham, was in Government 1756 to 1761 and Prime Minister 1766 to 1768. His power came from his brilliant oratory and dramatic voice. Whilst out of government, he became famous for his attacks on the government of the day.

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